The Identity of the Indus people : Part 6

The Fall of the City State

Indus traders had long history of trade with Sumer and Crete by land and sea. They exported beads, crafts, cotton, salt, agriculture and forest produce. The Karens were one of many clans who were living in the Indus valley. Later wars from the western and northern front, economic and environmental factors, the fall of Sumer and Crete, caused mass migrations of various artisans and craft workers. They were not learned enough to start a new city. They literally became orphans. That can be a reason many tribes still use several ancient Indus techniques. 

Indus culture migration: My trail: Map 

Meghwal and Kutch tribes are known for their embroidery and weaving.

Bhil still practice anceint Indus technique of bead making and Agate searching.

Potters from Rajasthan to Malwa use Indus pottery making technique and follow old customs.

Including a sacrifice to Bhainsasur.

Tribes in Baster use ancient wax technique.

Tribal girls in Orissa still make hair buns similar to the statue of the Dancing girl, Mohenjo-Daro.

The Karen use old methods of weaving and are known according to color of the dress they wear. 

Conclusion :

Scholars, earlier thought that the Karen traveled across the Gobi desert, but later they discarded this assumption. In J. Wade’s dictionary, I could not find any word representing snow. I believe that the Karen from the lower Indus valley, crossed the Thar desert where they came across the “thi seh meh ywa” or Sehmehwthi, which can be Luni river as shellfish can be found in the salty water or Phalguni river near Gaya . Mt.Eksho is Mt.Riksh’s ancient name of the Vidhyachal. River Mahi is called Mai also. Mt. Lwie-nya could be arawali.While walking towards east, eventually they encountered thick forest and reached where they reside now. In that long journey they lost their “book”. The story of the lost book or letters is found among many tribes in the region between rivers Yamuna and Irrawaddy.

Wars took a toll on builders, wisemen and workers. Life left it’s marks as shards of pottery and stranded beads. It is essential to study Karens literature to find unspoken history of the Indus, because Indian literature came under the influence of many races, who migrated into India and over the centuries and most of the local rituals became “civilized”.

References : 

1. “The Karen People of Burma: A Study in Anthropology and Ethnology, Issue 8
By Harry Ignatius Marshall”

2. Synopsis of a grammar of the Karen Language, embracing both Dialects, Sgau ...

By Francis Mason

4. Elementary Hand-book of the Red Karen Language

By R. J. R. Brown

4. Religion, Mythology, and Astronomy among the Karens

By the Reverend F. Mason, D. D.,

Missionary to the Karen people.

[Received 7th September, 1864.]

[Extracted from Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 34:2 (1865), pp. 173-88, 195-250.]

5. Ohio State University Bulletin, Volume 26, Issues 8-17

6. The Baptist Missionary Magazine, Volume 14: The Traditions of the Karen

7. Memoirs of the Four-Foot Colonel, Volumes 113-116

8. Census of India, 1901, Parts 1-2

By India. Census Commissioner

9. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland

10. Tenasserim: Or, Notes on the Fauna, Flora, Minerals, and Nations of British ...

By Francis Mason

11. Self-support, Illustrated in the History of the Bassein Karen Mission from ...

By Chapin Howard Carpenter

12. Sketches from the Karen Hills

 By Alonzo Bunker

13. Short Vocabulary of Red Karen. 

 By Bernard Houghton, M.R.A.S.

14. The Calcutta Christian Observer, Volume 3

15. The North American Review, Volume 40

http://www.drumpublications.org/

http://www.karen.org.au/docs/Karen_people_booklet.pdf

http://burmalibrary.org/docskaren/Karen%20Heritage%20Web/pdf/Karen%20Culture%202005.pdf

http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/henderson1979bwe.pdf

http://khrg.org/photo-and-video

http://www.infomekong.com/peoples/karen/

http://stedt.berkeley.edu/about-st#homeland

[ Photo creadit : Biplov Bhuyan / Indus Images ]